DOE’s Director of Assessment and Accountability discusses Growth Model Work Group progress

USDA proposes nutrition rules for foods sold in schools; submit comments now
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s proposed rule on nutrition standards for all foods sold in school was published in the Federal Register earlier this month. Click here to view the proposed rule. Public comments are due before April 9.

Application deadline for CTE program approval approaching
Applications are now being accepted to become an approved Career & Technical Education program in school year 2013-14. The deadline to submit an application is March 8. Each program seeking approval must apply. Click here for more information.

SDMyLife: Customizing to fit your school
March 5 in Sioux Falls OR March 25 in Mobridge

Spend a morning with DOE’s Career Development team to find out ways to you can make SDMyLife work at your school. We encourage districts to send teams of two or three individuals. Create a plan for how SDMyLife can be incorporated in different classrooms and become a shared responsibility. For example, one teacher can facilitate the Career Matchmaker and another can start Personal Learning Plans. Take away some plans and activities as well as network and share your plans and ideas with other SDMyLife educators. Continuing education units are available.

SDMyLife Network: Connecting students to the workforce
March 25, Mobridge

To help students identify their career path, transition successfully into postsecondary education and careers, and prepare to be productive citizens of the community, it is important for them to understand what the workforce demands. And who better knows the needs of employers than the employers themselves? You will learn how to leverage the expertise of employers to provide your students the information, advice, and encouragement they need. We will demonstrate how you can implement activities in the classroom to facilitate discussion forums between your students and career coaches in their careers of interest. Continuing education units are available.

This year’s annual TIE Conference will be held at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center. Three nationally-known keynote speakers will address participants, beginning with the TIE organization's director, Dr. Julie Mathiesen on Sunday. Dr. Mathiesen is a longtime South Dakota educator who earned her PhD in Educational Technology at Pepperdine University. She advises schools across the United States about implementing Mass Customized Learning strategies.

Other keynote speakers will be Adam Bellow, a New York educator selected as 2011 Outstanding Young Educator of the Year by the International Society for Technology in Education, and Richard Byrne. Byrne, from Maine, is well known for his blog, Free Technology for Teachers, reaching more than 53,000 subscribers daily.

South Dakota teachers will model three-dimensional instruction (Three Dimensions: Scientific and Engineering Practices, Disciplinary Core Ideas, and Crosscutting Concepts from the Framework for K-12 Science Education and NGSS) through activities and provide video evidence of this instruction occurring in South Dakota classrooms. The video footage is based on model lessons that have been aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards and South Dakota Science Standards.

Teachers will leave with three-dimensional lessons that can be immediately implemented and will gain an understanding of the vision for science education in South Dakota. Teachers also will leave the training with knowledge of the three-dimensional lesson-building process, which they can use to advance their curriculum.

This is a two-day regional training for middle school and high school science teachers. There are 10 locations with two trainings occurring per location. At each location, one training will be for middle school and one training will be for high school. Up to 60 teachers will be accommodated at each location, with 30 at each training. Stipends of $125/day, available through the Investing in Teachers effort, will be paid to each attending science teacher, for no more than two days of training. Therefore, teachers should only sign up for one training. A minimum of 20 teachers will be required to host a training.

Graduate credit will be available. More information will be sent out, post-registration, including what to bring, graduate credit information, specific location details, etc.